"The cover story for the military and the general public stays the same. We're there to contain a virus discovered by an Antarctic expedition and which may have fallen into the hands of a fundamentalist terrorist organization." John's mouth curved into a smirk. "You really need to give Radek more credit for his good ideas."
Teyla heard Rodney's grumble of acknowledgement only peripherally as she turned her attention to the view through the windshield. The smooth, stone-like walls seemed to stretch upward for miles. "Jumpers, engage cloak," ordered John. "We're cleared for a rapid climb to low orbit."
When they at last reached the surface, Teyla realized for the first time that it was night. She would have liked to get a better view of this world, to observe for herself what she had seen in so many pictures and movies, but she soon found that nighttime offered its own spectacular sights. As they climbed, the lights on the ground shrank to pinpricks, quickly joined by hundreds upon thousands more, brighter and denser than a star field.
"We couldn't take a jumper to Iraq because of airspace concerns," John said. "Luckily for us, the air traffic around Tasmania is just about nonexistent, so it'll be easy to avoid scheduled commercial flights. It's a pretty sparsely populated region by Earth standards. The only access to the cave system comes from logging roads controlled by the Forestry Commission, and those are being closed off for us as we speak. There are several large forest fires in the region, so the general public has been alerted to keep clear."
As if a line had been drawn below them, the lights abruptly ended, indicating that they were now crossing one of Earth's vast oceans. Then a sliver of sunlight burst across the thin atmosphere blanketing the curved horizon. Teyla found herself captivated by the sunrise illuminating her first view of Australia.
"Anyway, based on all the information we have so far, we think the Lilith are holed up in a cave system south of the capital city, Hobart," John concluded.
"How'd they get there?" Lome asked. "Smuggled in on cargo ships?"
"Goeldi owns some aircraft as well as an international tour company," said John. "Two tour groups of almost a hundred people each arrived on separate flights within the past month. One group is supposedly traveling around mainland Australia after finishing up a three-week wilderness trek in Tasmania. Although their plane did leave the island, supposedly with the correct number of passengers, there's no guarantee any of them were on board, because the first stop was an uncontrolled airstrip in the South Australian outback. The other group's still wandering around out in the wilderness. The Southwest National Park, where the caves are, is a popular destination for European tourists, mostly wilderness hikers, so there was no reason for anyone to be suspicious about this earlier. Now, though, the Tasmanian state government's trying to get a fix on their location."
"It's summer down here," Dr. Jackson said, "and at this time of year Hobart is one of the ports from which ships leave for Antarctica. A lot of Atlantis's scientists traveled through there during the planning stages of the expedition."
"They're trying to get to Antarctica. I'm sure of that." Agent Larance's voice was quiet, and she did not expand on her assertion before Dr. Jackson responded.
"What we need to keep in mind, though, is the fact that Tasmania was actually part of Antarctica while the Ancients were still on Earth. They could be searching for something that's now located in the extensive limestone system."
"How much distance are we going to have to cover inside these caves?" asked Lorne. "Miles'?"
Jumper One descended over mountain peaks and lush forests bisected by tracts of cleared land-farms, Teyla guessed. She pulled her gaze away from the windshield in time to see Jackson wince. "That's one of those unknowns General Landry mentioned. A few caverns have been mapped and are, as Colonel Sheppard pointed out, popular tourist haunts, but no one really knows the extent of the system. It's called the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area for good reason. The Lilith could vanish in there and never be heard from again."
"They have to eat," Ronon said simply, causing Teyla to wonder whether these beings were living more like humans or Wraith. In either case, she doubted they would find sustenance in a cave.
"Between that and the lack of easy transport to Australia until the last two hundred years or so, we think Europe must have looked like a better place for them to hang out until this recent Awakening." John brought the jumper around in a wide arc as the treetops drew closer. In the near distance, the forest was blanketed by a thick ashen haze. "There's also a third group of travelers-the ones responsible for the German policemen's deaths-somewhere in transit. More unknown factors."
Dr. Jackson nodded grimly. "They've been preparing for this event for thousands of years. It's virtually guaranteed that they have numerous alternate routes through the caves. Our plan at the moment is to stake out the known entrances and hope we catch them either coming or going."
Ronon voiced Teyla's immediate thought. "Not much of a plan."
"That's just our end of it," Dr. Jackson reassured him. "All airports and shipping ports have been alerted. The Australians are well prepared for this kind of thing; terrorism lockdowns are a fact of life these days. We just have to hope that no additional complications sneak up on us."
If hope was an integral part of their strategy, Teyla could not consider herself confident in their chances for success-particularly when she caught sight of the forest fires.
Chapter twenty-six
"Oh, this looks promising," McKay grumbled over the radio, pulling Rebecca's attention away from the dirty, umber-colored sky. "Colonel, was it your idea of a joke to have me plunk my jumper in the middle of a blackberry thicket? I recall from previous experiences that these jackets offer only minimal protection from brambles."
During the pre-flight briefing, Rebecca had learned that the jumpers would be dispatched to cover the major entrances to the caves. That still left dozens of minor access points, which the Australian Army was moving quickly to secure.
John settled Jumper One gently onto the ground in a glade of tree ferns. "The idea is for you and Dr. Lee to stay in the jumper and work on the frequency modulation system while the Marines secure the area. If you decide to wander outside and go sightseeing, it's up to Lome as to whether or not he feels like rescuing you from the killer blackberry patch."
"Tough call, sir," replied the Major, a smirk in his voice. "Don't know if I'd want to risk it."
Ronon opened the jumper's hatch, and immediately Rebecca could feel the traces of smoke in the air tickling the back of her throat. The threatening fires were going to be a factor here no matter what. She stepped down from the craft and walked a half-dozen paces to the right, taking in the nearby parking lot-empty except for a vacant Land Cruiser bearing a National Parks emblem on the door- and the walkway toward a small shelter. This had to be the main entrance to the caves. She turned back to ask John a question and was caught off-guard to see him step out of thin air.
He flashed a grin at her obvious surprise. "Just in case somebody we don't know happens to pass by."
The cloaking device. She'd been told about it, but this was the first time she'd witnessed it in action. After the steep learning curve of the past few days, it seemed there were still some things to which she hadn't acclimated just yet.
Rebecca heard a murmur behind her and spun around. Only a tree stood there. She shook her head, trying vainly to chase out a creeping sense of fatigue. She hadn't had nearly enough sleep lately to deal with this, but they didn't exactly have time to take a break.